Fingernails (2023)

In order to avoid divorce, time wasting and bad choices, this sci-fi'ish love story/drama paints a picture of a world where couples can get tested to see if they're compatible with each other. To see if there is true love.

They do this by attending a course (series of practical and emotional tasks together) then having a fingernail ripped off so they can have it put in some futuristic machine with the computer giving the result. 100% means both are in love, 50% means only one of them is in love (but it's not known which) and 0% means neither. As you might expect!

I think it's 1980's America and Anna and Ryan have had this test done some years back and are 100%. Incidentally, the vast majority of people don't get 100% so the course/test is not taken lightly - only people who really want to know (and fancy the torture) get involved.

Anna is restless though, questioning the science. She decides to go and work in the place where they do the course/testing and seems to fall for a work colleague there, Amir, putting into question even more her confidence and understanding of the process and outcomes. And apparently, he, her.

So it's quite simple really, as the love story is built around the science. Being in a stable (and scientifically approved/confirmed) relationship but being able to think outside the box, she's susceptible to her feelings and emotions - and thereby questioning the whole basis of what's going on.

So we then follow Amir and Anna, working in-team at the institute, helping their clients through the tasks as they get closer and closer, both knowing that she, at least, has a 100% reading with her current partner - and apparently, him too. We get inside her head as the camera follows her behaviour and thoughts, written all over her face, falling deeper, getting more confused, and as she tries to hide it from Ryan.

It's a slow, but well-paced drama from Greek director Christos Nikou in his first English language film, following Apples (2020). It's thoughtful and laid-back, beautifully presented through great acting by the leads (Jessie Buckley can do no wrong - she’s so cute!), nicely-measured cinematography and supported by some great 1980's music setting the scene.

It's also a bit absurd as a notion, I guess. The ripping off of people's fingernails is presented in the film indirectly, but gets the viewer close enough to the event to induce a sharp intake of breath and furrowed brow, at the very least! If you can stomach that and fancy a slow but thoughtful sci-fi'ish drama, worth a look, I say!